Swinging Safari

Sandakan Travel Blog

There are two main attractions in Sandakan. The main one is the Orang Utan Rehabilitation centre at Sepilok about 20km west of the town. Though there is as bus that goes all the way to the centre we catch one that drops us at the main road junction and we have to walk the final 3km to the centre. The feeding times are 10am and 3pm daily and we arrive early for the afternoon feeding thinking that there might be some intesting trekking in the the rainforest here. We shelve that idea when a heavy downpour starts and decide to wait our time at the cafe instead.

The viewing platform is a few minutes walk into the forest and we head there early to find a few others already there.

Sepilok Orang Utan centre

Many of the Orang Utans here are orphans that have been raised by hand so are very tame. Near the feeding platform ropes have been strung between the trees to make it easy for the Orang Utans to swing into the area, and very soon we are rewarded by their arrival. We stay for a good hour and are treated to a dozen or so Orang Utans feeding. My main regret is that I don't have a better camera, but a few do come very close and you can easily see just how human-like they are.

The other attraction is the memorial to the infamous WWII death marches. This is another bus trip but a shorter walk. I hadn't realised quite how many Australian soldiers had died here (only 3 from the camp survived the war). The memorial garden and museum have been built by the RSL and are very well done, portraying the horrors of life as a prsioner of war without sensationalising the events.